A system in need of closer examination

25 April 2002 — 10:00am

Jostling for a position in selective schools in our increasingly competitive society is creating multicultural frictions.

My column about the extremely high percentage of students of Asian background at selective high schools (April 11) provoked such an extraordinary rush of emails and calls and letters to the editor that I think it's worth another go.

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Certainly it was a vigorous start to a debate that clearly has been fermenting furiously below the surface. Some of the responses were highly critical - including plenty of references to racism - but many correspondents wanted to add their views to a sensitive and complicated issue.

These fell into two broadly defined lines of argument. One was the general belief that academic excellence, as defined by the selective schools test, was ultimately the only fair way of choosing students and that any discussion of cultural background was inherently racist and divisive.

The other was the view that the selective school test was leading to severe imbalances in producing well-rounded students with a range of interests - as opposed to too many products of coaching colleges devoted to getting the highest marks possible.

Within those rough boundaries, of course, there are many nuances and politically fraught questions - from the role of selective schools to the standard of public schools generally to the evolving nature of Australian multicultural society.

The many responses from students of Asian background and their parents I found particularly interesting. Victor Leung, a self-identified Asian parent of a Year 7 student at Fort Street High, for example, said it was neither "healthy nor desirable" for anyone that so many selective schools were dominated by Asian students and that more "diversity" was needed.

He suggested a mix of two selection standards, including one which also recognised special achievements in areas such as music, sports, drama, computers and debating. It was a view backed by a 1998 graduate from James Ruse. Kim-Son Nguyen said the proposal by a committee of old boys at Sydney High School to give some extra weighting to siblings or sons of old boys went against the meritocratic ethos that underpinned the whole idea of selective schools.

But he suggested a place in the selection process for extracurricular activities and said that interviews might be necessary as well. "While I did participate in some extracurricular activities, as did a lot of my classmates, it seemed that every new lot of Year 7s was more academically orientated, a product of the coaching college and the parental pressure gravy train," he wrote.

Another parent of European background - who has two children at a selective high - said he and his wife had decided not to try to send their third child because of their disillusionment.

"As an immigrant myself, I find that one of the great things about Australia is the racial mix," he wrote. "However, there is no real mix at this school: it is for all intents and purposes monocultural. That in itself wouldn't be a problem if it were not for the fact that one feature of this culture is its view of education as a meal ticket."

But is that wrong?

Many other correspondents complained the arguments about selective schools reflected little more than middle-class angst from parents of Anglo background whose own kids weren't prepared to work hard enough to be competitive.

Andrew Chia said that if there was a lack of Anglo Australian students in selective schools, it was a problem with not having enough selective schools.

"Don't make the people the problem; this is the path of stereotyping and ultimately, bigotry and hatred."

Another university student of Bangladeshi parents said that as someone who worked and studied hard at public school, he "was constantly harassed by Anglo peers for being a 'square"' while some parents complained about the school system being "overrun with 'f---ing Asians'."

Despite the disagreements, the overwhelming message was the passionate desire to achieve the best education for life in an inclusive, multicultural and increasingly competitive society. But the jostling for position is creating the normal frictions and fears of being left out - from people of all sorts of backgrounds for all sorts of reasons.

Talking about that - and whether the system can work better - still seems a good idea to me.